Quoted from marksf123:If it is someone I don't know on pinside or some other site then I don't use friends and family. I let them know I will pay them for goods and services and I will add the 3% to the price of the game (or whatever the PayPal fee is at that time). That way I am protected. It adds some money to the game but I feel better about sending that kind of money.
I do the same thing. I purchased light boards for my WoZ, contacted the seller and made sure it was alright if I added the PayPal fees and paid for it as goods and services. If they had said no, then I would have politely declined to move forward with the transaction.
Quoted from CyberNinja24:As a follow up, my bank was 99% sure that I wouldn’t lose money on the deal, but it looks like I’m out $2,000 on the scam.
This individual was part of the pinside community. He had other games for sale, pins wanted, was responding to other PMs, and was actively posting on other threads.
I don’t know if it was a scam that was laid out for months or if this person just wanted to grab some cash and go.
Either way, tread extremely cautiously and only deal with people you know and trust.
Thanks for posting. It's tough to swallow getting scammed, but it's good that you were able to warn others. I think Melissa posted something about them being able to authenticate the machines if you contact them first. The thread is around here somewhere.
Ashland, KY
